Armed robbers burgle retired cop’s house in DLF

Gurgaon, Sep 1 (IANS) An 84-year-old retired police officer and his family, including his wife and granddaughter, were beaten and gagged by robbers who entered their home in DLF City here Monday morning and kept them hostage at gunpoint while they ransacked the house.The gang of six-seven masked and armed robbers entered the Phase III home of R.K. Kharbanda, retired deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Railways Protection Force (RPF), at about 3.40 a.m. after handcuffing and muffling the lane security guard, police said.

The robbers entered the house by yanking out the iron window grill of the house in the upscale DLF City in this suburb of the national capital.

Kharbanda told reporters that the intruders first woke his nephew Pankaj who was sleeping in the room next to his.

“They thrashed him and asked him to knock at our room where I was sleeping with my wife Lalita. As I tried to oppose their entry into our house, they started thrashing me too and I started bleeding from the nose. They searched all the cupboards for cash and valuables,” Kharbanda said.

Kharbanda and his wife were gagged and handcuffed. While some of the robbers stayed in their room, the others moved to the first floor where Kharbanda’s engineer son Anshu, his wife Seema and granddaughter were sleeping.

“My son Anshu, an engineer, and his wife Seema were also gagged and handcuffed as the miscreants continued the search for cash and valuables.”

After ransacking the entire house, the robbers managed to find Rs.75,000 and a few gold ornaments valued at about Rs.60,000-70,000.

“The victim family told us that the robbers had a Bengali accent. They were not local lads at all,” said DLF police station house officer Ashok Kumar.